Comparing Two Artists

! In this exercise I compare Nielly Francoise, a modern painter and designer with Vincent Van Gogh, a late 19th century painter. The reason why I choose these two artists is because, firstly their art works have very clear and contrasting characteristics. Another reason why I chooses the two is because they are from different eraʼs, which I thought might make this exercise more interesting. Finally, I generally enjoy viewing there unique styles and compositions.

Comparing Two Artists

! Nielly Francoise is a modern French artist, who mainly focuses on painting portraits, however her style is very unique and uses a wide range of florescent colors, which make them interesting.The Photo above is an oil painting portrait of Che Guevara. When I observed her pieces I realized that there were no clear brush lines or strokes, instead very flat and spread out paints, which suggested that she mainly uses palette knives. This give an unusual effect, which makes the figures almost look as those they are carved out sculptures, however her use of colors are not random at all. Although the bright colors make the composition look very abstract and random she properly uses darker colors for the darker parts and lighter colors for the bright parts, which gives the portrait a 3D effect. This is very much like the Chiaroscuro exercises we did before except using light and dark colors.

! On the other hand Vincent Van Gogh is a 19th century Dutch post-impressionist painter. As I mentioned before his style is also very unique yet differs greatly from Francoiseʼs. Many of his paintings have a distinct brush stroke, which immediately identifies him. The texture of the brush strokes are very rough and short, however has a smooth flow. For example, the bottom left portrait of Gogh, which is currently in the dʼOrsay Museum in Paris France, consists of short visible strokes that are both used in the background and on the figure yet they create the flow of his clothes, hair etc. Whereas Francoiseʼs style has a very different feel to it, as I explained before. Although texture and style wise the two have very different ways of approaching paintings, color plays an important role for both artists. For example, the two pictures below are paints by Van Gogh yet depending on the use of colors they possess both very different emotions. The piece on the right (Portrait of Pere Tanguy in Rodin Museum Paris) is very bright and gives off a cheerful warmth while the left portrait is very blue and depressing, a lot like “The Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso, which is color wise much like this piece. Same goes with Nielly Francoiseʼs pieces. Each composition includes different sets of color depending on the mood and feeling that the artistʼs want to express.